[Eds Note: Earlier this year we shared with you the incredible story of Dominic Pio Gundrum and his family. Today his mother provides us with an update to this incredible, heartwarming tale, which Dominic's mother continues to detail at her blog. Images courtesy of DominicPio.com]

A whole year has gone by since we laid our eyes upon his face, heard his husky little voice, touched his little hands and feet and took in what our little man was all about. It was a year ago that he took us and everyone by surprise when he exceeded everyone's expectations. He has traveled more and gotten to know more people than some can claim to know in a whole lifetime, he has touched hearts (especially ours), and he has brought people back to prayer. He has been God's tool, his instrument in which He worked his mighty deeds, what a life you have lived so far Dominic!! When this whole journey began, there was no way we could have ever seen all of the good that could come from your little life with its large struggles.

From the onset, it was a scary unknown place that we were not sure how it would turn out. It is a lesson for me to look back on your last year and remember how it felt to be looking at your predicted future, having no idea just how many would be deeply touched by your story, the lesson in that is life-changing! And yet, I find myself again looking down the road to the next surgeries you will endure and again feeling unsure about how it will turn out, so the lesson on your first birthday Dominic is: TRUST. Trust in God and His plan for your life. The lesson is also: have CONFIDENCE that He knows what He is doing and I can rest in that. There also needs to be: DETACHMENT from my own will and allow God to pierce our hearts for the good of our own souls and others, because as we have learned, it is from these piercings that God is allowed to enter in and fill our hearts with GRACE. Thank you God for our beautiful son!

I know I have not been blogging, but please understand that I have seven other children that need my care just as much as our Dominic, in fact, I think they needed a little more TLC after the last surgery. We have all enjoyed being a family again without the large stressors of Dominic's care, life has become more "normal" again (when I say normal, I mean as normal as it can be with eight children and homeschooling them) and that is a good thing! I do hope that I haven't hurt anyone by not keeping you up to date, I do care about all of the readers as you have become sort of like extended family. You all have given of yourselves with your gifts and prayers and I would never want you to think that I did not appreciate that. Truly, a day doesn't go by that I don't think about how grateful I am to all of you for what you have done for us. Every time I think of it, I say a prayer of thanksgiving for you.

I have pictures to share and more videos than you'd ever want to see of Dominic (take your pick!) since I haven't posted in a while, so I hope you enjoy. Dominic is a sweetheart, almost always smiling and laughing. He does have a spunky temper, especially when he sees his family members eating and he feels that he is not getting the same food. He has a voracious appetite, as I am sure you can tell by the pictures. He does real well with feeding himself any food and can pretty much eat whatever we eat. His first two teeth started coming in last week. Dominic does not crawl yet, but is making his milestones in the order they should happen, just behind a normal schedule. Dominic is very interactive and loves to play interactive games. His vision is still a question, but we are just so grateful that he can see. Dominic is scheduled to have his next surgery on his palat in Chicago on Aug. 13th. Prayers would be appreciated! Thank you for continuing to keep Dominic in your prayers, you are the reason he is here today bringing us so much joy!

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